Jana Nolan
Earth Star Publications
www.earthstarpublications.com
FIRST EDITION
First Printing May 2016
All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2016 by Jana Nolan
ISBN 978-0-944851-44-9
CONTENTS
PART 1
The Old House at the Top of the Hill
1. Was Our Journey Worth It? ............ 1
2. Who and Why? ......................... 7
3. Unsettled ............................ 13
4. Watchful Eye ......................... 19
5. Truth Be Known ....................... 23
6. Unseen Saga .......................... 26
7. Questions ............................ 32
8. Tremors and More ..................... 41
9. Changes Happening .................... 48
10. Fact and Reality .................... 56
PART 2
The Woman That Wouldn't Let Go
1. New Neighbor ......................... 61
2. Infatuation .......................... 66
3. What's So Great about Molly? ......... 72
4. Is This Still My Home? ............... 76
5. Pizza, Anyone? ....................... 82
6. Crossing the Line .................... 88
7. Craziness and Terror ................. 96
PART 3
Spring Break
1. The Journey .......................... 101
2. Talent and Charm ..................... 106
3. Drugged .............................. 115
4. Waiting .............................. 119
5. Knowing the Facts .................... 126
PART 4
The Cabin at the End of the Road
1. The Move ............................. 129
2. The Oil Truck ........................ 134
3. Unknown Neighbors .................... 142
4. Our Worst Nightmare .................. 153
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PART 1
-1-
It's mid June, and the leaves are just now starting to form on the huge trees that surround the entire area. They are bright green in color, and beautiful to look at.
The area that I am referring to is the North Woods of Wisconsin. The winter months are brutal and long. For many people who move here, the weather is more than they can handle.
Some find it hard to survive. Each year the population changes rapidly. When others are moving here to the North Woods to start a life with their family, there are just as many people moving away.
My name is Keli Porter. For a short time, I lived here in the small town of Woodberry, Wisconsin. The town itself is off the beaten path of the larger cities. At the time, my family and I believed it to be the perfect place to live.
In order to tell you my story, I need to go back to many years ago.
Like the ones who moved here with great expectations of a good life for their family, my parents were at the top of the list.
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I am the oldest of four children, which includes my two brothers and a baby sister. The reason why we moved to Woodberry was because of an inheritance that was given to our father.
Because of this, my father became the new owner of an old house that happened to be the only one standing at the top of a hill. His Uncle Henry passed away unexpectedly, and in the will he had named my father the beneficiary of it.
There were many looks from the townspeople who lived here when the moving truck pulled up in front of the old house. I was quick to notice that the people standing below the hill were pointing at us and whispering to each other.
Father was helping the driver with hand directions as he backed the huge truck up to the front door of the house. While doing this, Father didn't notice the many people below the hill, watching and talking quietly amongst themselves.
Mother was busy unloading our van and taking what we had brought with us into the house. She was placing the items neatly in a pile in the living room, out of the way of the movers, who also were carrying into the house many boxes and furniture.
Being the oldest child, I was put in charge of my younger brothers and my baby sister, to make sure that they didn't wander off somewhere into the midst of the forest, which partially surrounded the old house. For a very young girl of 10, this was not an easy task.
Even as young as I was, I couldn't help wondering why all of those people continued to feel the need to stand around, watching and talking about us. Later, when the truck was unloaded, there was nothing for the people to see, so they left.
When Mother had time to talk, I asked her why
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these people were watching, talking and pointing at us.
Mother replied, "This is a small town, dear. We are new to the area, and they probably were just curious about what we looked like. I am sure that they will come back and introduce themselves to us after they feel that we have had an ample amount of time to get our things organized and situated in this house."
This, at the time, sounded good to me, and so I accepted the words that my mother spoke. Both my father and my mother always seemed to have a way of explaining things to help me understand.
Days went by, and no one came to visit us. Even when we went into town, people stared at us as if we had something dripping from our noses. I then could see that Mother and Father were noticing how we were being treated as well.
Coming from a good family, we were all raised to be respectful to everyone, no matter how they treated us. We smiled and returned to the old house.
The people in town weren't the only things creepy in Woodberry. There were times when I thought that one of my brothers or my sister was talking to me. When I turned around to respond back, there was no one standing there.
I tried shrugging this off as I did know that my imagination had a tendency to be on overload and way out of control. On the other hand, this had happened to me more than once.
This was something that I felt needed to be addressed with my mother and father, but because of feeling weird from the moving-in day here, and somewhat paranoid from the first day, I chose to keep this stuff to myself for now. Maybe it would pass.
How little did I know that before long, my family would also experience unknown happenings in the old
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house. Sometimes, for me, it was easier to walk out the back door, and walk around in the woods for a while, to clear the thoughts in my head.
When night time came, it was even scarier as my bedroom lights were flickering on and off. At times, my radio would turn itself on and off as well.
My little sister, Ruthie, would come into my bedroom, running at full speed to jump in bed with me. She was only 4, and would only say, "Keli, I am afraid of the boogie man."
I would then try to explain to her that there was no boogie man in the house to be afraid of. This being said, it was hard for me to be convincing as I, too, was afraid of the old house as well.
One day, when Mother and Father put me in charge of watching my siblings, I was downstairs in the living room, trying to turn on the television. My reasoning for doing this at the time was that if Donnie, Jonathan and Ruthie were preoccupied watching a cartoon, it would give me the opportunity to concentrate on homework from school that I needed to get done.
No matter how much effort I put into turning the television on, I had no success at it. Then, when I walked away from it, the television would come on by itself. As I would walk over to it, to change the channel, it would turn itself off. How is this possible?
When Mother and Father walked back through the front door, I was ecstatic to see them. Something was most definitely weird in there, and not normal. Again, I wanted to talk to both Mother and Father about everything I had witnessed when they were home, and just now, when they were gone.
But again, I attributed it to maybe the television starting to break down.
In turn, I went back upstairs to my bedroom to
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finish my homework and also to get ready for another day to come, living in that old scary house on the hill.
It was also Picture Day at my school the next day, and I really wanted to look my best. Being showered, having P.J.s on and tiny rollers in my hair, I was ready for bed. Because of the weird and unusual day that I'd had, I was exceptionally tired and fell fast asleep.
The next morning, I was up and running; I had picked out the prettiest dress I had in my closet. Because I had gone to school in a different state, I had a bunch of friends that I wanted to exchange school pictures with. My expectations were for the pictures to be the best ever this year. At least I was leaning in that direction.
I wasn't the only one who had gone all out for Picture Day. My brother Donnie, who was a couple of years younger than I was, had also taken extra time to get ready for school. He had splashed on a tiny bit of my father's cologne and was standing in front of me, combing his hair at what appeared to me to be a thousand times, before he grabbed his school books and started for the front door.
Donnie, being the oldest of my two brothers, was always expected to set a good example for our youngest brother, Jonathan.
On the other hand, our baby sister, Ruthie, whom I was the one expected to set a good example for, was the one that we all tried to watch, to see what she would come up with, or do next.
One time, she would be standing right beside us, as she was told to do, and then when we would turn around to talk to her, she would be nowhere in sight.
I wondered sometimes if she, too, heard someone speaking and went to find out where their voice was coming from, or whom it was coming from.
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PART 2
—1—
As I lay in this hospital bed, unable to speak, with my eyes shut, I can still remember what events led up to this.
I have overheard the nurses and doctors talking with my family that patiently waits for me to wake up from the sleep that I am in.
My name is Carla Rivers. I live with my family in a suburb community in California.
This all started the day that a woman showed up at our door. I had just returned from taking my husband, Carl, to the airport. He is an airline pilot that is gone for weeks at a time.
We have a teenage daughter, a son in grade school, and a baby that is six months old.
When I heard a knock on the front door, I went to answer it with a crabby voice. "Okay, Michelle, did you forget your key again today?" I asked.
I was tired and our daughter, Michelle, was bad about leaving her house key at home, knowing that I might not be back yet from the airport when she returned from school.
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When I opened the front door, I saw a tall woman who said, "Hello, I am your new next-door neighbor, Molly. I just moved into the neighborhood today."
As I extended my hand to shake hers, I said, "Hello, Molly. Happy to meet you as well. I thought you were my daughter, Michelle, who had forgotten her house key again. She is at that age where the only thing she thinks about or remembers is her boyfriend and the crowd of kids that she hangs around with. Won't you come inside, Molly? I hear my baby starting to wake up and need to go get her," I replied.
"Yes, I would love to come into your house for a while."
"I forgot to tell you my name. I am Carla Rivers. Sit down and I will be right back."
As I turned my back to go upstairs to check on Summer, my baby, Molly didn't sit down. Instead, she continued walking around downstairs, looking at everything.
When I came downstairs, I noticed her standing at the mantel, looking at a family portrait of my family that had been taken just before Christmas. As I approached Molly, she said, "Nice picture."
Being polite, but wondering why she wasn't sitting instead of standing, holding onto our portrait, I said, "Thank you, Molly. This is my family."
I had expected her to be sitting on my couch instead of checking out my house. I reached out to take back the portrait that she continued to stare at.
By then, my daughter had come through the front door with a couple of her friends. I felt that Molly had overstepped her bounds by investigating what we had downstairs. I was thinking that this was very rude and uncalled for, and that Molly was trying to familiarize herself too much with our surroundings as she
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continued to stare at the family portrait. I felt it was time for her to leave. I had to be as blunt as I could in asking her to come back another day.
"Molly, I hope this doesn't sound rude, but my daughter and her friends are here now, and soon my son will be here as well. I have things to take care of."
From out of nowhere, Molly said, "Your husband is very good-looking. Is he home?"
"Yes, he is, Molly, and no, he isn't home! I need you to just leave," I replied.
"Okay, Carla, I will leave for now."
"Yes, we will talk again soon," I told her as I was still wondering why she continued to stare at our family portrait, even after I entered the room and was trying to speak to her. She was very quick to comment on how good-looking Carl is. Was she staring at all of us, or just him?
Michelle had come down the stairs to get apples for all of her friends and herself. She walked over to me and said, "Mother, who was that woman?"
"Her name is Molly and she is our new neighbor who moved into the neighborhood today," I replied.
"The other day, when Father picked me up from school, I saw her sitting in her car behind where Father had parked his car."
"Maybe she has a son or a daughter that goes to your school, Michelle," I replied.
"Maybe," Michelle commented as she turned to go back up to her friends who were waiting on her.
As the phone rang, our son Cliff walked through the back door. I answered it, saying, "Carl, I thought you would have left by now."
"My flight was cancelled, Carla. The plane has mechanical issues. It looks like I won't be leaving now until next week. Come get me."
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"I will be there shortly. Michelle is home from school and I will ask her to watch Summer until we return."
When I walked out the front door, I noticed Molly sitting on her front porch. She was facing our home. I couldn't help wondering why she was watching all of us. In spite of this, I did the neighborly thing and waved at her.
When I drove up to the pick-up lane at the airport, Carl was waiting for me. He put his luggage in the back seat and climbed into the front seat. "Hello, baby, you made good time driving here," Carl said with a smile.
Carl knew that whenever I get excited about anything, my foot becomes a piece of lead on the foot pedal. I was excited that I had more time with him.
"We have a new neighbor. She came over today to introduce herself to me. Her name is Molly. After I let her in the door, I could hear Summer upstairs and asked her to sit down as I would be right back. As I was coming down the staircase, I noticed that she was investigating all around the room to see what we had. When she heard me coming, she was at the mantel, staring at our family portrait. I tried talking to her, but she was mesmerized by the portrait of us that was taken last Christmas. She continued to stare when I was taking it from her. Oh yes, she thinks you are very good-looking," I said as we drove out of the airport pick-up lane.
"No worries, baby. You are the only love in my life,"Carl replied.
This made me laugh and giggle at him. That was a statement that I already knew to be true. Yes, I did have a very good-looking, handsome husband that I knew loved and adored just me.
When we returned home, we found Michelle and
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Cliff arguing. Summer was not with them downstairs. Carl set his luggage down and went upstairs to check on her.
"Michelle, why isn't Summer down here with you and Cliff?" I asked.
"She is fine, Mother. Geez, why do you worry all the time about it? She always cries when she needs something or wants attention."
Michelle, who was still going through the selfish, life-is-all-about-me stage, didn't really give it much thought as the words she spoke came firing out of her mouth.
With Summer being born with a severe breathing problem, I was very concerned and protective of her. All the doctors told us that it would be a good idea to watch her more than normal for her first year of life. With Michelle's attitude, I also fired back at her.
"Michelle, you know how important it is for all of us to watch your baby sister. I also know that it doesn't hurt you to continue to help us when we ask you to. Don't keep going with your attitude problem as it will only make things worse for you."
I no more than got my words out when Michelle told me that she was sorry and would help more with Summer.
Carl returned downstairs with our baby and Michelle was right, as Summer was fine.
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-2-
Carl was happy to be off work for a week. It being spring, he was ready to spend the day planting a flower garden and a vegetable garden in the morning.
For now it was that time of the day for all of us to complete what we needed to before bedtime. As for Carl and I, we sat down on the couch to cuddle with each other and talk.
There was a knock at the front door. It was too late for visitors.
Carl removed his arm from around me and got up to answer the door. As he opened the door, he said, "Yes, can I help you?"
It was Molly making another appearance for the day. "Hello, I'm Molly, your new neighbor. I couldn't help but notice you in the car with Carla when she returned. I came over to introduce myself to you as I did her earlier today."
"Yes, Molly, I have heard about you from Carla. Would you like to come in and join us for a while?"
"Yes," Molly said as she walked around Carl to enter into the living room.
Again I could see that eventually she would begin staring at Carl. I was right as she wouldn't take her eyes off of him. Did Carl remind her of someone she
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used to know years ago, or now?
"Hello, Carla," she said.
"Hello, Molly. So, sit down and tell us about your husband and children. You should bring them over with you next time you visit, so we can meet them as well as you."
"I'm not married, Carla. I have no children," Molly replied.
Things were kind of weird now as Michelle said she had seen Molly behind Carl at her school the other day. Then again, maybe Michelle had made a mistake and it wasn't Molly at all.
"So tell us, Molly, about yourself. Where did you move from? Do you work?"
"I came from a small town in Oregon. My divorce was final last month. My husband and I were married for twelve years. So far, I am not working. I really don't need to," Molly replied.
"Wow, you are from the same state that Carl came from," I said as I looked at her. With every word that came out of her mouth, it was like she was just in the room with Carl. She couldn't take her eyes off of him.
Cliff had returned downstairs to talk to Carl. "Father, there might be an hour of sunlight left. Do you want to go outside and kick the football around for a while?" Cliff asked.
"Sure, son. We can do that," Carl replied.
"Okay, that's great," Cliff said as he went running toward the door.
I continued to watch Molly as she smiled at Cliff and Carl. Something definitely was not right with her.
After Carl and Cliff walked out the door, Molly said, "Maybe I should leave now. I have something to do before it gets dark."
"Yes, Molly, I too have things to do." My sentence
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wasn't even finished and Molly had left the house, shutting the door behind her.
I was very convinced that the only reason she had come here tonight was so she could see my husband, Carl.
Summer was sleeping peacefully, so I walked to the window to watch Cliff and Carl kick the ball around. Molly was standing close to Carl with her hand on Cliffs shoulder. She was holding the football. Both Cliff and Carl were smiling at her.
I then went to the door and opened it. Molly saw me do this and handed Cliff the ball. She mumbled something to them and walked away.
Giving her plenty of time to cross the street, I went outside to talk to Carl.
"Cliff, your father will be throwing you the ball soon. Right now I need to talk to him in private."
"Okay, Mother," Cliff said as I then took Carl's hand so he could follow me to an area where Cliff couldn't hear what I said.
"What was all that about, Carl?" I asked.
"What was what about, Carla?"
"I opened the curtain so I could watch you and Cliff. I saw Molly talking to both of you. What did she say?" I asked.
"Carla, don't tell me you are jealous," Carl said with a slight snicker in his voice.
"You can laugh if you want, Carl, but there is something very odd about Molly."
"All she said was that she played football with her little brother when they were younger, and she asked Cliff to hand her the ball so she could show him how to hold it, so it would go further when he threw it. That was why we were smiling at her, Carla. Are you all right? You have never acted like this before!"
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PART 3
—1—
I feel that I haven't ever been good with introductions, especially when it comes to explaining things to people about either myself or my line of work.
A company based in Chicago by the name of Calaburt is where I have been employed for many years. They, unlike myself, believe in my ability to promote and sell a line of women's clothing that I design. The clothing line I am referring to is what I named Spring Break. Calaburt not only promotes my line—like me—to major department stores all over the world, but also many chains across the nation. I employ sophisticated marketing techniques to sell Spring Break.
In order to elevate my clothing line, I travel to different locations to promote sales for Calaburt. Whether I choose to drive or fly, I take a variety of samples to identify the quality of each garment from Spring Break, to show a complete design that will be distributed to them.
Also, I furnish to each chain of the many department stores a catalog of my clothing line with a removable updated one-page sheet that shows them in detail
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the wholesale cost and the retail pricing that the many stores can choose and order from.
At times, I have picked a town or city where I can easily host a fashion show. Also in the fashion industry, I attend different trade shows where I display Spring Break.
My name is Mike Fargo. Today I am leaving to travel to Abilene, Texas, with several samples of Spring Break to promote and sell to another big company. I have been penciled in to also do a couple of fashion shows along the way. Calaburt has me traveling more than I am here in the windy city of Chicago.
Today, as I am just about out of the city, I am stuck in traffic. I have turned on the radio to see what the highways are like, not knowing whether I should take the interstate or country roads when I have reached the ones that I am familiar with.
My intent is to arrive at my scheduled stops, making sure that I arrive on time. With the radio telling me that there is a lot of highway under construction, in order for me to avoid a bunch of unnecessary problems for myself, I need to take the old highways. Some I have been on before, and some will be new to me. I can see construction signs ahead, so it is time to take my Spring Break van toward the exits going south.
When I rounded the exit, as far as I could see, the highway would be clear sailing for me the whole way, until I needed to make another turn on a different highway leading south. Unfortunately, if the truth be known, there would be joy about to happen in my life, but I also would experience something very terrifying that I would never imagine happening to me.
I had driven on a highway which led me to turn onto an unfamiliar highway, which I already knew I
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was going to encounter along the way.
Up ahead, I could see what appeared to be a person walking with a suitcase. When I stopped to offer a ride, I could see that this person was a woman.
"Do you want a ride?" I asked.
"Yes, and thank you. I have been walking for hours," she said as she slid open the connecting door to load her heavy suitcase.
As the woman climbed into the front seat, I asked, "Where are you headed?"
"Anywhere but around here," she replied in a soft voice.
"Well, I am going to Abilene, Texas, with several stops in between. If you would like to ride along with me, I will let you out at any stop where you want to get out."
"Again, thank you. By the way, my name is Lori," she said as she smiled and reached over to shake my hand.
"Okay, Lori. Abilene bound we. are headed. And my name is Mike."
I had driven for hours and the sun was starting to set, and before long it would be dark. It had been a while since either one of us had said a word. I could see that Lori was in deep thought about something.
"If you don't mind me asking, why were you walking with a heavy suitcase?" I asked.
Without hesitation and giving my question any thought of denial, she said, "Tomorrow was supposed to be my wedding day. My fiancé and I were headed to a small town to get married by the Justice of the Peace. The more we talked, while we were driving, the more I found out about what he had been doing on his last business trip that he had just come back from.
"Apparently he ran into his old girlfriend, Sandra.
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He tried to explain to me that he had no feelings for her any longer, and that he didn't know that she would be in Marco when he arrived there.
"I wanted to believe him, but when we were checking into the motel, my fiancé had left his wallet in the glove compartment. When he went out to the car to get it, the night clerk asked me to go ahead and sign the guest registry for us.
"As I was looking down it to sign in, I noticed where my fiancé and Sandra had signed their names for five different nights. That was the length of time that he was gone. He had been sleeping with her every night, sneaking away from her just long enough to call me.
"When he came back into the motel to pay and show his ID, I told him what I had seen. He kept saying that nothing had happened between them, but after he kept repeating himself for the third time, I slapped him and told him I didn't want to ever see his face around me again.
"I grabbed my suitcase that was sitting on the floor and walked out the front door. When I got outside, I took my engagement ring and threw it as far as I could throw.
"My parents tried to tell me that he was not good enough for me, but I wouldn't listen. I thought that they were just wanting me to stay around home and not have a life of my own.
"So I hid to wait for him to leave, and then I went into the motel myself to register for the night. I have been hitchhiking ever since," Lori said with still a soft voice that sounded tired and full of sadness.
"I'm sorry, Lori. I had something similar happen to me years ago. I had worked my way through a university, struggling to drive back and forth to my
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hometown, to make sure that I spent as much time with my girlfriend as my job and school would allow. We had dated for a couple of years and I wanted to believe that she was as much in love with me as I was with her.
"One day, I chose to call work and make the excuse that I was sick, and with that, decided to skip some classes that day. When I arrived home, I found a note on the kitchen table telling me that she had decided to leave me, and go live in a different town with an old boyfriend.
"My trust in women and relationships ended with me staying single ever since," I said as I turned my head to look at Lori. Finding her asleep let me know that she was exhausted from walking and hitchhiking for many miles.
The next town we came to, I drove into the parking lot of a motel. After going inside and registering, I went back to get Lori. I picked her up to carry her from the front seat of the Spring Break van. When we entered the room, with her head leaning against mine and her still being sound asleep, I laid her down on one of the beds to sleep comfortably for the night.
As I was laying her down, her cap that she had been wearing fell off her head onto the floor. I could see that she was very beautiful with long, flowing dark hair.
I turned out the lamp next to her bed and went over to my bed to sleep. It had been a long drive that day.
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PART 4
—1—
It was the summer of 1980. Most of us wore feathered hair, side ponytails, miniskirts, off-the-shoulder shirts and my favorite, Levi jeans. When my pants wore out, I placed different patches all over them.
That day I had come back to my house, happier than I had been in years. For some people, what I did that day when I went to the company manager I worked for, might have been harder for them than it was for me. What I had done was a blessing. I quit my job of twenty years.
I was getting older and wanted to travel and live in a place where I felt serene and joy, instead of always the hustle and bustle of constant traffic from the city. I'm not saying that living in a city is totally the worst place to live, but as I get older, I realize that if I don't make a move now, there is a good chance I won't.
Having saved some money over the course of twenty years, I knew I would be fine if it took me a while to find a job.
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My name is Peggy Stern. I had just gone outside with the Realtor to talk to her as she placed the For Sale sign on my front lawn. It was just one of those last-minute things to take care of before piling my luggage in the back of my car.
My destination was Fremont, Wyoming. I had rented a cabin to live in until my house sold. My plans were to pick up two of my closest-friends along the way, for a couple weeks of fun and girl talk. This visit with them could be the last one for a while.
When the sun came up, I was out the door of my house and waving to my neighbor across the street, who was standing outside in his yard, getting ready to walk his dog.
As usual, the traffic was horrible and backed up with everyone leaving the city at the same time.
I was looking forward to driving my two friends to the cabin. We were very excited and it was going to be a good vacation for them, staying with me in the cabin until their return home. We wanted it to be a. vacation that they wouldn't forget. This is a statement that soon would hold true for the rest of our lives.
Driving in the direction of Wyoming, I saw a young woman walking. I stopped to pick her up. She was quiet after asking me to let her off at a certain place five miles down the highway.
She didn't look like she went outside much as she was pale in color. Her dress was light blue and maybe something her grandmother had picked out for her to wear. It was outdated and something long ago that had been worn to a dance.
Just barely before I got to the spot where she wanted to be let out, the girl told me that I could stop up ahead I pulled over to the side of the road and she opened the door to climb out.
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With her, she had brought a light blue rose that she had hung onto. When she left the car, she left the rose on the seat.
I felt sad for her because she looked very poor, and I thought the rose was something that meant a lot to her. I turned the car around to give her back her flower. When I got to the exact spot where I had dropped her off, I saw a graveyard.
I got out of the car and walked into it. I thought maybe I would see her walking and could call out for her to stop. I saw nothing but a picture of the girl dating back to 1912. This was the date on her tombstone. I laid the flower on the ground in front of it and stood there long enough to watch it turn black.
I ran back to my car and continued to drive out and away from there. I had heard of such happenings with hitchhikers that disappeared, but didn't want to believe that this would happen to me.
When I reached the next town, where I chose, to spend the night, I happened to bring it up to the desk clerk about how I had stopped for a young girl who wanted a ride and ended up with her picture on a tombstone. Also the flower turning black.
I was told that this was the same girl that walks up and down the highway, and that there was a myth about her. The myth stated that if the person didn't stop to pick her up, that person would forever have bad luck.
With all of this being told to me, I was scared and hoping that I didn't come across another hitchhiker again. it was a very quiet night for me. I needed the rest that I got.
The next uneventful day of driving, I was going to be on time picking up my friend, Betty Pierce. It had been quite a while since I had seen Betty. We had
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talked on the phone, written letters and sent cards, but hadn't spent time together since high school.
After a couple of hours, I was looking on a paper that had directions to Betty's home. Before long, Betty, Kathy and I would be together again. They both were going to fly home after all of our fun at the cabin was over, within a couple of weeks.
Betty heard my car pull up close to her home and she was headed out the door, walking toward me with a huge smile.
After she threw her bag into the back seat, she climbed in. "You made exceptional time. It is so good to see you."
"I know. I had a scary thing happen to me on the highway between here and Washington. I saw a young woman walking. It was starting to get dark, so I picked her up. She looked like she was needing a ride. When I went to let her out of the car, she left a light blue rose on the seat. I turned around to find her, to give it back to her. When I returned to the spot where I had dropped her off, she was nowhere in sight.
"So I pulled the car over and want to find her. As I kept walking, I reached a graveyard and the tombstone that showed an old photograph of her on it. She was wearing the same old dress that she had on that night. I laid the light blue rose down on the grass where she was buried, and I stood there long enough to watch it turn black. My thought after that was to run to my car and leave fast.
"A night clerk told me that she walks the highway a lot before dark. The myth is that if a person doesn't stop and pick her up, that person will have bad luck brought to them the rest of their life. I am so happy that I picked her up," I said as I wiped away sweat beads on my face.
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